Tangerine Dreams

Charlton 1 West Bromwich Albion 1 (FA Cup Round 3)
Charlton 4 Blackpool 1 (League)



Madjid Bougherra (he's in there somewhere) scores Charlton's first goal


About 9 years ago, I did my first-ever stint at being a guest question master at the quiz. In those days we had a different venue, an Irish pub round the corner from our present home, which was part-owned and managed by a very amiable young Northern Irishman called Simon. Simon had launched the quiz, and had insisted on being his own question master, and very charismatic he was, too. All the same, there were occasions when he couldn't be around, or when people asked if they could have a chance to be a guest quizmaster, and as I say, my Big Chance came along some time in 1997 or 1998.

I recall that I had a good month or so to get things ready, and, as new quizmasters are wont to do, I resolved to cast away some of the fuddy-duddy old topics. How boring just to have History and Geography and Cinema and Literature. So I said to myself: "how about something exciting and different?" Though of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with the old quiz standards, it having been proved that they are sufficiently all-embracing to work perfectly, in the right hands.

However, once I got down to it, I immediately realised that eight whole exciting, different rounds was a bit much to go for, and opted for just two new-style rounds. One was a general round on transport - buses and trains mostly- which I am very keen on (see last posting). The other round was a whole round about Blackpool, not just the football club, but the whole place, and I included questions about who designed Blackpool Tower (M. Eiffel); the name of the city across the Irish Sea whose name literally means "black pool" (Dublin) and the organist at the Tower Ballroom (Reginald Dixon), and which political party had resolved, in the light of there being no longer any direct trains from the capital, never (though they have since gone back on this one) to hold their conferences there again (the Tories, and whose fault was it that there were no direct trains, pray?) and what was the name of the first footballing knight, who played for the town's club (Stanley Matthews, of course). I also asked for the well-known nickname of Blackpool Football Club (the Tangerines).

My experience as quizmaster that evening taught me a number of things. One of them was that no one knew anything like as much about Blackpool as I did, the Stanley Matthews question being the only one which most people knew, and that while I might be keen on trains and buses and the like, not many other people are, and unless personally affected by this, are unlikely to know which London station you go to if you plan to travel to Cardiff (Paddington, in case you're interested).

Another thing was, indeed, that maybe the old traditional questions are the best, and the third thing was that no-one knew about Blackpool FC being called the Tangerines, even when I told the assembled company, by way of a clue, that it was based on the colour of their shirts. Alex was most put out afterwards when I refused to allow him any points for his suggestion of "The Oranges", insisting that the colour was right, even though I kept pointing out that "The Oranges" is not the nickname of the club.

Maybe, I mused afterwards, this Tangerines thing is limited to the surrounding area, for as regular readers will know, I grew up in rural North Lancs, and Blackpool was never all that far away, both as a place and in its general influence.

And yet, after this great victory, one of Charlton's best performances this season, and on a par with their apparently excellent display against the Albion in the Cup the previous week, there has been a plethora of tangerine headlines, with tangerines being squeezed, peeled, crushed and sliced up, all over the place. So I thought I'd add one of my own as today's title.

Bougherra scored after a number of minutes which varies from 2 to 6, depending on who you read, and then Luke Varney added another after 10 (or 12). Coasting 2-0 after such a short time is not always a good thing, and Blackpool's Ben Burgess hit what was apparently a fine volley to bring Charlton back to earth after about 16 minutes. China's captain (but not Charlton's) Zheng Zhi hit goal nº 3 after 22 minutes, and with Charlton leading 3-1 at half time, Blackpool returned determined to fight back, and tried hard, but ZZ hit Charlton's nº 4 after 52 minutes and that was that, with other open goals and the like being missed by Jerome Thomas among others.

The powers that organise such matters might well be Blackpool fans, for ZZ's reward for being man of the match and scoring those all-important third and fourth goals was to have to go and have tea with Gordon Brown yesterday (see Wyn Grant's blog, link at right). What can the poor boy have done to deserve that?

The picture shows the first goal, and when I first saw it I thought it was no wonder that Charlton won so comfortably, as Blackpool seemed to have no players in the goalmouth at all. But a closer look reveals that Charlton players are wearing white shorts, and Blackpool, er, tangerine ones, but I was surprised to find the shirt colours so similar. And why is what is evidently a Blackpool defender raising his arms in the time-honoured "we've just scored a goal" gesture?

Anyway, a fine performance, and it bodes well for tonight's Cup replay at West Brom, for apparently Charlton played exceedingly well in their 1-1 home draw, and were a shade unlucky. The Albion also, apparently, Wyn Grant reports, feel that they might have done better and are determined to improve their performance tonight. Might be a cracking game. Frankie, who forecast a home victory of 4-1 last Saturday, which made his readers gasp and stretch their eyes, even though he turned out to be right, has predicted a scoreline of West Brom 2 Charlton 4 for this evening. And who am I to argue? If that's what he wants, he may, if he is on a roll, get it.